Classy
Weddings Are Ushered
Your ushers are the first human contact
your guests will have when they attend your wedding. They are the
ambassadors of your good will, and show your guests the level of
consideration you have for them. Ushers are men or women who are
classy, helpful, and ready to assist your guests prepare for your
ceremony. Any wedding ceremony with twenty
or more guests should be assisted by an usher. At fifty to
one hundred or more attending, two ushers is a minimum. The
really large affairs (300+ attending) should have four or more.
 Although we often think of male
ushers smartly dressed in tuxedos tending wedding ceremonies,
this is not a complete picture. The ladies can fill this role
too (usherettes). And children, both boys and girls, fill this
need as well. They need only be old enough, and competent enough
for the task at hand.
Although a tuxedo (for both guys
and girls) renders the smartest look on an usher, a suit for
the guys and appropriate dress for the girls works just as
well. A tuxedo however, is a visual identifier of his or her
role.
Your ushers need to be at your
rehearsal session where they will learn from me, if they do
not know it already, the correct etiquette of an usher as well
as his/her responsibilities.
Ushers assist arriving guests
in acclimating to your wedding. They answer questions, they
give directions, they pass messages, they adjust seating, help
the elderly, take children to the washroom, they handle mid-ceremony
disturbances that you and I cannot.
And yes, they escort VIPs to their
seats as shown on this page. These ushers learned
at rehearsal that the lady is to be escorted on his left, while
her husband
follows them and is centered between them (for photography
purposes). The usher's arm is up and horizontal and his hand
is in a slightly closed fist. She is on his left arm so that
he may draw his sword with his right (which shows you how old
this tradition is; that's why women walk to the left of their
gentlemen).
I do realize that some wedding
ceremonies cannot have ushers but try your best. Furthermore,
ushers only escort immediate family member females to their
seats- not the general audience! Your ushers should say to
those guests: "The bride and groom ask that you be seated
wherever you wish." In this way your audience in their
seats will have a balanced look, rather than mostly favoring
the bride or groom's side.
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